Glentress advice

largephil

First visit next weekend, there for 2 nights.

Origional plan was drive up, do the red Friday. Then black Saturday and Inners red sunday before driving home.

Heard a few say the black is not that much fun (i mean not as much fun as the red) and a bit of a slog. What are peoples thoughts of the black up there?

Cheers.

trailpuppet

Agree with the slog bit re the black but if you have not been before it is worth doing for Britney Spears section. The slog can be missed out by following the red to Spooky Wood, ride on past Spooky on the forest road till you come to the access point for the Bondary Fence descent on your right. Follow this and do Deliverence. Climb out of Redemption at post 87 to 22 on the Blue. Follow Blue route left all the way back to post 44 and then Red route back up to Spooky Wood.

At end of Spooky go left into Betty Blue and then back along to post 44 again to re-join Red route.

At post 31 instead of haeding back to the Hub climb back up to the Freeride park and have a play. Then take Electric Blue back down to post 31 and blast the last bit back to the Hub. Enjoy
http://www.thehubintheforest.co.uk/Downloads/7stanesglentressinnerleithen.pdf

gordo29

hi agree the black is a bit of a slog but if your coming up for a mtb weekend it is worth doing and its quieter than the red at the weekend.plus if you miss it out you'll get back home and wish you had done it

largephil

Thanks for the replys. Not sure about the black still. Had a slog fest at the beast at coedybrenin and it was too much. Also, I love fast flowing stuff, and by all accounts the black is more technical and slower than the red. Not doing the black also frees up a bit more time to fit Inners red in. We will see 8)

trailpuppet

not done the red on it`s own for yrs but reckon it will only take a couple of hrs.
Have a play on the skills/jump stuff and add on the blue bits for added mls+fun

The black is only slow for the first 6mls and Redemption :roll: The other 6mls are all freewheeling downhill

booldawg

The Red took me just under 2 hours from the bottom car park all the way up and down as far as Buzzards nest. I'm by no means fast or fit!

Sodfoster

The Black is certainly worth a blast! I did it a few months back on a cold wet day and had a right blast. It is a bit of a slog but only compared to the red (which can easily be done twice in one day). If your coming all the way its certainly worth doing!

Northwind

Black is well worth doing... It's not particularily black to be fair but it's a lovely trail, has a worn-in feel that makes it halfway between a modern trailcentre loop and a "natural" XC route. I don't do it as much as I should but it's ace.

The red is great though, much more accessible and has a huge return of fun on your climbing investment. If you pay attention to the map you can also loop back and double up sections which adds a lot IMO- it's not a long ride after all so when you come across a bit you like, why not do it twice?

Oh and on the red, when you pop out of Sair Fecht onto the fire road, rather than climbing the fire road and going straight down Falla Brae go right back up the Dougie Bank climb to the top car park then do the blue route back down, THEN do Falla Brae. It's "just" a blue but it's bloody nice, needs a bit of pace but really pays you back for making the effort.

Innerleithen red is pretty much one enormous climb then one big descent but you'll want to keep some pedalling in your legs for that descent, it needs to be done at speed. TBH I'm not as big a fan of it as most people seem to be, when it clicks it's fantastic but it's not much fun if you can't find the groove. Oh, I can never decide if the black's better than the red, it's very different though. Good fun if you like rocks. I like rocks.

Might not be a bad idea to do Innerleithen red as the second day since it's not such a big ride, and GT black as the last.